You make an excellent case... just as good as your post about Banks about 5 months ago. I believe your post about Banks read " I wouldnt touch anything from banks with a 10ft pole."-- and you never returned to the thread to elaborate.

I have had my problems with Scott in the past... namely when it came to nailing down delivery dates, occasional difficulties contacting them (especially during his shop move), and excessive wait times for stuff, some of which was pre-paid (bad idea with ANY vendor, and something I will never do again.) At one point I nearly flew back to Rhode Island to get some face time with him over an item that was a very long time overdue... but it didn't come to that. However I have had the same experiences and lack of responsiveness with several other vendors too... including one who is prominent member of this board.

I have never had anything from Scott come up short when it came to functionality... it typically just took a lot longer to arrive than initially promised, which is something that I have found to be fairly normal in this industry. Prompt or even slightly delayed deliveries in this industry seem to be the rare event.

Anyways, enough of that.

care to elaborate?

Jody

venture over to the turbo forums. there was a huge discussion of his faulty parts and he got all up about it.... rather funny threads. take a look. his carb hats blowing apart, pulleys he was building and mandrels for customers. And then his customer service.

about the banks products the only reason I wouldnt use anything of his is because its over priced for what it is. and the design isnt the most efficient, ive pulled apart one of his turbo's and waste gates aswell and wasnt to pleased with the fit and finish of the part.

thanks awr 68 i will look into the pic thing thanks for the link. been away for a bit. i have seen some users that had pics right in there post . i kinda would like to know how to do that .

I agree 100%... those two threads in question turned very ugly, especially the hat thread, although there may be more going on behind the scenes we don't get to know about. Yes it sucks the hat blew up, but it blew up after several backfires-- not a typical operating condition. Knowing that engines can and sometimes do backfire that should be taken into account when designing the components, however you can not design a part to withstand every abnormal operation condition. Being an engineer I do have concerns about the longevity of Scott's hats; the large near-flat areas will undoubtedly flex from boost to off-boost transitions and eventually there will be a fatigue failure. Overpressure simply accelerates this process, and the large flat areas certainly won't cope well with dramatic overpressure situtations (i.e. a backfire). I voiced my concerns about the shape to Scott in a phone conversation years ago when he emailed me pictures of the then in development hats and it looks like it did come back to bite him.

Personally, I've never had any gripes with Scott except I was told severely underestimated lead times and also when I had difficulty in contacting him during the move of his shop-- he had my money at that time, I didn't have any parts to show for it, and I couldn't get a hold of him. To say I was very concerned was an understatement-- but I did get the parts in the end and I'm happy with them.

His tensioner setup works mint on my car, I've done a couple out-of-the-box Procharger setups for other people and Scott's setup is leaps and bounds ahead in terms of performance, consistency, and reliability.

I've had a couple of problems too (bad injectors, head unit issues) and both times Wendy went out of her way to help me fix the problem-- although I did have to initiate a few follow-up calls on my own when I didn't hear back from them in a day or two.

I do agree with you on the price/performance ratio of the Banks parts... not very impressed in that department. I still remember when they raised the cost of their cast SBC manifolds nearly 3X because everyone was purchasing the manifolds only instead of the entire kit.

well ive been doing this hot rodding thing in one shape or form for almost 30 years and whenever a new part come around or a new company starts up with a new part they hit a day when they think all the R&D work is finished and the product is ready for the consumer and it launches.
well it finally reaches the consumer and maybe something in the mfg of the part gets over looked or some weak or faulty material slips by and BAM problems . sometimes the part reaches the consumer the consumer mistreats the part or installs it carelessly or modifies it in some whay and oh boy the accusations fly.
myself for instance have a set of upper and lower speed tech control arms that were so new when i ordered mine they was having problems with the welder and it took me 4 months to get my bars and what i ended up getting was the proto types that hung on the wall with no bump stops installed at all
and i was lie hmmm so a quick call he mailed me bump stops and they still havent been installed . bars dont hit why drill them and thread them in when i could ruin them.
i have read blown 353 ,s web site a couple times id say he has a fair understanding of parts and performance needs im inclined to take his advice on the belt tensor , when in fact no matter where i get my part ii could have problems.
now if s&d concepts had poor customer service didnt back there faulty items and blew off the customer ten yes a pointing of the finger would be in order. when i spoke to them they was real open about past issues and what they have done to correct them and to me that is a shop that is honest and worth working with. we all start someplace , even the guy who goes t the machine shop drops off some parts says machine my block balance my bottom end and goes home assembles that engine with lil knowledge of whta he is truly doing the motor gernades and all of a sudden that machine shop was to blame.
if i had a 1/2 a cent for every horror story ive heard regarding the auto industry i could proably retire for life and retire a good 300-400 peole with me. thanks for your opinion badmatt and im sorry your experiance was a less than happy one. :thumbsup:

when the day comes that everything in life is made perfect with no faults of any kind and there is nothin left for us wrenches to do what will our hobbies be then and where will we spend our perscious dollar. ? LOL

Here's my thoughts on Scott and SDCE. His tensioner is the best I've seen, much better than the stock ATI unit. Along with his brace for the main blower bracket it eliminated all my belt slip issues I was having. I ran an 8 rib belt and held 16 psi on a big block and a/c, no issues.

Bought two of his carbs for different blow through engines, both spot on out of the box. I could not improve them with the normal jetting changes, they were already there.

His advice has always been good, and deserves a lot of credit why the 540 and my buddy's 406 ran as good as they did. I have not used his air intakes, and do not know about the internet drama he was involved in. I only know he's always helped me with good advice and parts that work.

Jody

i have to agree when i spoke to him briefly on the phone he sounded like a decent man to do business with .